


I care about you

by fangirl_from_the_bookstore



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Convenient plot is convenient, Deadpool - Freeform, Derek Feels Guilty, Derek and Stiles hate each other, Derek is adorable, Episode AU: s04e04 The Benefactor, F/M, Falling In Love, Focus on sterek, Hurt Derek, Hurt Stiles, Kidnapping, M/M, POV Derek, POV Stiles, Scars, Skinwalkers - Freeform, The last chapter is pure fluff, Torture, Updating tags as I go, but they actually dont, hit list
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-05-17 15:26:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14834876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_from_the_bookstore/pseuds/fangirl_from_the_bookstore
Summary: “Smelled a bunny?”, Stiles snorted. Derek didn't answer but slowly moved closer to the window. His nostrils were inflated and his brows furrowed.“You look absolutely ridiculous”, Stiles said unter his breath and went back to reading.Derek want to say something in return but then he heard his window break. He didn't have time to react when he felt an arrow penetrating the skin at his neck.





	1. The Hit List

**Author's Note:**

> I know the first chapter of a story can be quite boring, but I hope you enjoy it anyway :)
> 
> Enjoy ♥

There had been another attack. Another case they would need to solve. Another dead body. They thought that it had been a one time thing, but then another body was found and they were starting to get worried. What if there was another assassin in town? The deaths weren't supernatural, it had always been a perfectly placed bullet. A few days later Scott called them all for a pack meeting. He opened the door for Stiles. All the others were aleady there.

 

“Hey guys”, Stiles greeted them with a smile and they returned it. They had no idea why Scott called them all here. Derek was here as well, but he ignored Stiles as usual. It shouldn't hurt, but it did. Before Stiles could think about it any further Scott started talking.

 

“I am sure you are wondering why I called you here”, they all nodded. Scott took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. He sighed deeply and unfolded it. Everybody waited anxiously for him to talk again.

 

“I received this page this morning. At first I thought that it was just a stupid prank, but something about this seemed weird to me so I thought maybe you guys have an idea”, he handed the paper to Allison who was sitting closest to him. She looked at it for a few seconds but then shrugged and handed it over to Lydia.

 

“Do you know who the sender was?”, Derek asked.

 

“No, it was just laying in the letterbox.”

 

The page wandered further to Stiles. He examined it, but couldn't figure anything out. It was full of numbers and letters in a random order. It looked like someone had just typed furiously on the keyboard. Derek reached out and Stiles gave it to him.

 

“Does any of this look familiar?”, Scott asked hopeful.

 

“No, sorry”, Allison said with a frown and the others shook their heads as well. Lydia seemed lost in thought though. Stiles noticed it.

 

“Lydia, what is it?”

 

She took a few seconds to answer. When she did she still seemed deep in thought.

 

“I don't know”, she slowly started, “but there is something about this page that looks...odd. Like the numbers and letters aren't placed randomly”

 

“Okay... okay but odd is good, right?”, Stiles looked at the others, “you are feeling something, so this means that this isn't some stupid joke.”

 

Stiles' mind was already racing.

 

“Yeah, that is good”, Scott answered and Lydia timidly smiled at him.

 

“I could ask my dad, maybe he has seen something like this already”, Allison offered.

 

“And I could look through the old books I have at home”, Derek said.

 

“Thanks guys”, Scott said, “I have this feeling like this page means more than we all know. Maybe it even has something to do with the murder of Tyler Johnson or Adam Hammer, which appeared out of nowhere. So if anybody finds out anything, please let us know.”

 

Scott went to make a copy of the page and handed it to everyone before they all left. For a few days nothing happened. They all tried to find out more about the page, but Allison's dad had never seen anything like this before. Stiles was left with internet research. He could go to Derek and help him with his books, but he didn't know how to ask him or if this even would be a good idea. He had about twenty tabs open on his laptop but all of them lead to a dead end. His phone rang and he saw Lydia on the caller ID.

 

“Hey Lydia what's up?”

 

“I figured it out”, she said breathlessly.

 

“Oh my god really? Wow you are amazing!”, Lydia huffed a laugh.

 

“I already called the others, come to my house”, she answered.

 

“I will be right there!”, he was already out of the door.

 

Lydia waited for everybody to arrive. Stiles could tell that she was nervous and he wondered why. He tried to push the feeling away that this might be a bad thing.

 

“It's code”, Lydia said suddenly and her voice quivered a bit. Stiles groaned. _Of course!_ How could he be so stupid? She opened her laptop and everybody huddled around her. 

 

“I knew that it weren't just random numbers and letters. So I uploaded it into a special program, which just needs a key to decode it.”

 

“How did you find the key? There are a million different possiblities”, Derek asked amazed.

 

Lydia looked at everyone and it was clearly visible how uncomfortable she felt.

 

“That was the weirdest part...”, she didn't know how to explain it to them, “I was sitting in front of the screen, looking at it and then suddenly I felt the urge to start typing. So I started and without thinking I typed _Tyler_ and all the letters and numbers turned into words.”

 

“ _Tyler_? As in Tyler Johnson, the first murder?”, Stiles asked surprised. Lydia just looked at him with big eyes and nodded. She typed in the right key and everybody watched the whole page turn into words. They all looked at it confused and amazed. Derek was the first one who noticed it.

 

“Guys”, he started, “look who is on the list.”

 

He pointed to a name and it read  _Adam Hammer_ . 

 

“This means his death wasn't random either”, Allison said breathlessly, “it had been planned all along.”

 

“So...if he is dead...and he is on this list...”, Stiles started.

 

“...then this could mean that all these people on here are about to die as well”, Lydia finished and let out a shaky breath.

 

Nobody was talking. They were all shocked. Scott cleared his throat.

 

“But this can also mean that we can _save_ everybody on this list”, he said.

 

“How? Scott there are at least twenty people on it, how can we assure their safety at all times?”, Allison asked.

 

“It won't be easy-”

 

“It never is”, Stiles sighed and Scott chuckled before he talked again.

 

“We just need some help and more information about this list.”

 

Now they had to do tons and tons of reading and research and _they_ meaning Derek and Stiles. The others, meaning Scott, Allison and Lydia left Beacon Hills. Scott and Allison went to Mexico to try to cooperate with the Skinwalkers. Lydia was going after a lead for a group of Druids, which left Stiles and Derek in charge of reading through old bestiaries. This normally wouldn't be a bad thing, because research was totally Stiles' thing. The catch to this story was that he had to do it together with Derek since he had been in the werewolf business longer than any of them. He knew some people they could call and had tons of old bestiaries. So this meant hours and hours spent with a grumpy werewolf. Stiles sighed and flipped through the pages. He had been going through all of the bestiaries twice already, but there was nothing about a hit list. 

 

“There is nothing here”, he said defeatedly and looked at Derek. Derek didn't say anything, in fact he hadn't said anything the whole time Stiles had been here. He was just sitting with his laptop on the sofa and clicked through various tabs. Stiles rolled his eyes and said “okay” before closing the bestiary and taking another book from the pile to go through it again. Derek was getting on his nerves. Over the years they kept saving each other from either the supernatural or the police. Even Stiles, who still considered himself as “just the human” from the pack, had saved Derek's ass a few times. There had been the situation with the kanima, when he had been unconscious from being poisoned by wolfsbane or when his dad was trying to arrest him. But had Derek ever said “thank you”? No sir! It bothered Stiles because he actually really liked Derek, so he wanted him to see how much Stiles was risking to save Derek all the time, but Derek didn't even look at him. Stiles thought that over the years they might have developed a friendship, he didn't dare to wish for more. It hurt Stiles to see that Derek was still as cold as in the beginning.

 

What Stiles didn't know was that Derek felt the same. He just wasn't sure how to express his...his feelings? He was afraid of opening up to another person who was gonna leave him like all the others before. Maybe Stiles was different. Derek huffed, Stiles  _was_ different. That sound made Stiles look at him, but Derek closed himself off again and Stiles looked almost sad and disappointed before focussing back on the book. Derek felt bad, but if this meant that he was protecting Stiles from everything, then so be it. How can Stiles like him? Derek was always getting into trouble and felt horrible when Stiles had to come and rescue him. Him! An alpha! Everyone around him always got hurt or even died. So he pushed Stiles away. Parts because he was ashamed but also because he felt like a little boy around him. He couldn't think straight, all he could think was that he wanted to take Stiles' hand and go away with him for a while. He had noticed the bags under Stiles' eyes and wanted nothing more than to give him some free time to breathe.

 

Derek focused back on the article he had been reading. Suddenly he heard a sound from outside. Stiles had just finished reading a chapter about Kitsunes when Derek's head shot up.

 

“Smelled a bunny?”, Stiles snorted. Derek didn't answer but slowly moved closer to the window. His nostrils were inflated and his brows furrowed.

 

“You look absolutely ridiculous”, Stiles said unter his breath and went back to reading.

 

Derek want to say something in return but then he heard his window break. He didn't have time to react when he felt an arrow penetrating the skin at his neck. Derek saw Stiles shot up from the chair and looking at him with his eyes wide open.

 

“Derek??”, Stiles' panicked voice echoed through the room. Derek's legs were giving in and he collapsed onto the floor with a loud thump. The last thing he could register was Stiles running towards him but then suddenly stop when another arrow hit him as well.

 

“Bitch”, Stiles whispered and collapsed down next to Derek. Derek felt his vision go blurry but tried to focus. He actually started to feel terrified. When Stiles lost consciousness Derek's chest tightened, because he again failed to protect him, but then everything turned dark.

 

Stiles woke up with a groan. His legs and arms felt like pudding and the area where the arrow had penetrated his skin was throbbing. Slowly his senses came back and he heard Derek calling out his name. Stiles looked around and realised that he was laying on cold concrete inside a prison cell. Derek was in a cell next to him and holding onto the bars. When he saw Stiles slowly sit up he exhaled deeply and closed his eyes.

 

“What the hell just happened?”, Stiles asked.

 

“How am I supposed to know?”, it wasn't meant to sound mean, but Derek still had the image of Stiles laying unconscious on the floor in front of his eyes and so he wasn't aware of how his voice sounded right now.

 

“Geez, okay, sorry”, Stiles rolled his eyes. He stood up on shaky legs and checked out his surroundings again. He shook at the metal bars, but of course they didn't move.

 

“I am gonna get us out of here”, Derek said determingly.

 

“And how do you plan on getting us out of here oh mighty wolf?”, now it was Stiles turn to be sarcastic, “this thing here has four walls, a concrete floor and oh look there is even a ceiling ALSO out of the same material!”

 

“I can see that smart ass”, Derek answered annoyed.

 

_Great_ , Stiles thought to himself,  _kidnapped by some weird dudes with arrows and now together with a brooding werewolf._ He supressed a shudder, it was really cold and he was just in a shirt. Derek noticed that, but didn't know if he should help or not, he didn't want to mother Stiles. So he continued to test the walls and the bars, but there was no use. He figured that the arrows had probably been filled with wolfsbane, which would also explain why his legs felt like pudding. He felt incredibly weak and started to get scared. There was no way, that he could protect Stiles under these circumstances. Stiles shuddered again.

 

“Great, I am gonna turn into a popsicle”, he muttered under his breath and Derek huffed a laugh without thinking about it. Stiles noticed it and shot him a small smile, which Derek returned timidly. 

 

Then Derek had an idea. He felt himself half shift and let out a howl. Stiles looked at him with one eyebrow raised and let out a big laugh. Derek shot him a dead look and shifted back.

 

“By the way, you do realise, that Scott is in Mexico and Lydia is away as well.”

 

“I know”, _but I had to do something_ , he added for himself, “the walls are soundproof anyway. They have to track our scent then.”

 

“Who is _they_?? Derek didn't you hear anything I have just said? They are all gone!”, Stiles threw his arms in the air.

 

“I know”, Derek said again between pressed lips. Stiles exhaled deeply and tried calming down. Before anybody of them could say anything else the only door in the bunker opened.

 

A man came in dressed completely in black. He walked slowly closer to the cages and Stiles unintentially stepped back a few steps. The man was intimidating.

 

“Who is the benefactor?”, he asked and his voice was raspy and deep. Both of them were taken aback by that question.

 

“I am sorry, who is the _what_? What the hell is a benefactor??”, Stiles asked and looked at Derek who shrugged his shoulders.

 

“Who is the benefactor?”, the man's voice and posture didn't change. Before Stiles could stop himself his mouth opened again.

 

“We wont tell you anything dumbass, even if we knew! Now let us out of here! Or I swear to god I will shove my fist so far up your ass that you can taste it!”

 

Derek chuckled but hid it. Of course Stiles would insult the man who captured and kidnapped them. Stiles was breathing hard as if didn't realising what he just did. The man was quiet for a second. Then he moved so quickly, that Derek saw the small crossbow too late. The poisonous arrow was already on its way into his body again. He felt the impact and staggered back.

 

“Fuck”, he muttered.

 

“What the hell are you doing?!”, Stiles shouted as Derek collapsed to the floor and ran to the bars connecting his cell to Derek's.

 

“Who is the benefactor?”

 

“WE DON'T KNOW!”, now Stiles was terrified. The man still kept a straight face and moved to open the lock on Stiles' cage. Derek grunted on the floor and said “no” under his breath but then lost consciousness.

 

“You are coming with me”, the man said to Stiles. Stiles straightened his shoulders.

 

“I am not going anywhere”, but his voice quivered. When he saw the man reload his crossbow he embraced for the impact but saw him pointing it at Derek.

 

“You know what happens when a werewolf overdosed on wolfsbane”, the man said dryly and looked at Stiles one more time. Stiles' mind was racing and he closed his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. The man sighed and aimed the crossback back at Derek.

 

“Fine! Fine!”, Stiles almost shouted before the man could proceed any further. He didn't want Derek to get hurt. He needed to buy some time. Maybe he just wanted to talk... right? The man nodded contently to himself and put the crossbow back into his holster. He motioned to Stiles to go ahead and with a last look on Derek he went outside the cage on shaky legs.

 


	2. Torture

“What the hell do you want from us?”, Stiles tried to sound confident but his voice was trembling. Actually his whole body was. The man just pushed him forward through a maze of corridors. Stiles' mind was racing and he tried to remember which turn they took each time, but he soon lost track of it and just walked ahead.. He tried to think of possibilities to escape, but could never leave Derek behind. They had to think first before they were doing anything. And this means that they had to play the man's game to buy some time. They walked through another long corridor and finally arrived in front of a heavy door. The man pushed it open and Stiles walked inside. When he looked around he saw two other men standing in the room. They looked intimidating as well and seemed like they couldn't wait to start to “question” Stiles. Nobody in the room talked to him when Stiles got pushed into a chair. Then one of the two other men approached and started to restrain him. He was slowly starting to panic.

 

“Hey, what is this?”, he started again. One of the men was chuckling. He was clearly having fun.

 

“Wow, too tight man”, Stiles said when he finished restraining him. The cable tie was cutting into his wrists. This clearly wasn't just a normal questioning, but Stiles hadn't expected anything different. The room didn't look welcoming. He saw a table full of pincers and knives. He also saw huge batteries and cables laying in the corner and a shelf full of various flasks with liquids. He recognised a wolfsbane flower in one of the flasks. He swallowed but his throat was so dry all of a sudden.

 

“I have a feeling like w-”, he started but didn't come further because one of the men punched him in the face. It came unexpected and Stiles' ears started to ring. Stars were dancing in his vision and he felt like he was gonna throw up.

 

“How about we have a nice conversation?”, the tall man said who had brought him in.

 

“Then how about you stop punching me in the face?!”, Stiles answered angrily but this just resulted in another punch.

 

“I always love the sarcastic ones”, the man smiled and stroke Stiles' cheek. Stiles' mouth wanted to say something witty in return again but luckily this time his mind was smarter. So he pressed his mouth shut and tried fighting against the tears. His head started to throb and everything was slowly starting to spin.

 

“What do you know about the benefactor?”, there was this question again. Stiles rolled his eyes. This resulted in another punch to the face and he spat out blood after it. He felt his cheek being split open on the inside and the metallic taste of blood almost made him puke.

 

“Look”, Stiles tried to reason with the guy, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

 

The tall man was looking at the other two and when one of them started to smile Stiles' stomach twisted. The one with dark blond hair walked to the table and stood in front of it as if deciding which device to use. Stiles' heartbeak quickened. He tried again to explain everything to them.

 

“I am telling the truth, I have no idea! Please, you have to believe me!”, tears were falling out of his eyes and Stiles hated it. But he was now too scared to think about looking vulnerable. The man chose a small knife and walked towards Stiles again. Stiles pulled at the restraints but this just made them dig deeper into his skin and he hissed. The man kneeled in front of hin and waved the knife before his eyes.

 

“Why don't you tell us what you know and then we decide if you are helpful or not?”

 

Stiles took in a shaky breath and tried scooting away, but the man grabbed his neck and pulled him closer again. He took the blade and placed it onto his cheek. The coldness made Stiles flinch.

 

“I suggest you start talking now.”

 

“I don't-”, he started but then the knife was being pushed into his skin and Stiles screamed. The pain was shooting through his veins, but he couldn't pull back. The man kept holding Stiles' face into place. He kept slowly slicing down his cheek and Stiles was screaming his lungs out while tears were running down his face. Finally the man removed the knife out of his skin and let go of his neck. Stiles was panting and his head fell onto his chest. He was too scared to say anything and his mind was racing.

 

“Who is the benefactor?”, he could hear the tall man ask him again.

 

“I don't...I don't know”, Stiles cried and anxiously awaited the next punch. But there was none.

 

“I think that this is enough for the beginning”, the man grabbed his face again and Stiles closed his eyes in panic, “this time we are still being nice to you, but if you don't talk soon then...”, he didn't need to finish that sentence. He let go of Stiles' face and it dropped back onto his chest in exhaustion.

 

When Derek woke up he thought that it had all been a bad dream. But his racing heartbeat which was trying to get the wolfsbane out of his system told him otherwise. With a loud gasp he jumped up to his feet and swayed until he almost fell. He held onto the bars and took a few deep breaths to steady himself. He looked to the left and expected to see Stiles but the cell was emtpy.

 

“Stiles?”, he asked. He called again, this time louder.

 

“STILES?”

 

But there was still no response. The soundproof walls were making him panic even more because he had no idea what the man was doing to Stiles or if he even was still in this bunker.

 

“Shit shit shit”, he mumbled under his breath and started pacing around. What if something had happen to Stiles? He would never forgive himself for being too weak. AGAIN! Derek didn't know how long he had been out, but he started to get more and more panicked. Time was dragging along, but Derek didn't hear anything except the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears. Suddenly the door opened and that sound made Derek jump. He ran to the bars and saw Stiles being pushed inside by the man. He had clearly been crying and had a bruise all over his forehead and a cut down his cheek. He kept rubbing at his wrists which were bloody as well. It reminded Derek of the time Gerard had kidnapped him and he got so angry he almost shifted.

 

“What the hell is your problem??”, Derek shouted, but the man didn't even look at him. He just opened the door to Stiles' cage and pushed him inside. Stiles still hadn't said anything or even looked at Derek. Without another word the man left them again. Immediately Derek ran to the bars connecting the two cells.

 

“Stiles, are you alright? What did they do to you?”, he talked fast and his voice was almost squeaky.

 

“I am fine”, Stiles said between pressed lips but it sounded wrong and his voice was hoarse. _Had he been screaming?_ Derek wondered and the thought of that almost made him vomit. 

 

“Come on, let me take your pain”, Derek stretched his hand between the bars but Stiles made no move towards him.

 

“Dude, I am fine, just drop it”, he said tiredly and slowly let himself sink to the floor. He couldn't stop the gasp coming from his mouth when he slid down the wall. Stiles looked defeatedly and broken and Derek wanted to scream at him and wanted Stiles to LET HIM HELP HIM, but decided against it. He knew that Stiles hated being mothered. So he just nodded and stepped away from the bars. After a while Stiles started to shudder again. Derek tried to ignore it ar first, but then he heard Stiles' teeth chatter.

 

“Are you cold?”, Derek quietly asked him.

 

“No, I told you, I am fine”, Stiles answered annoyed. But the truth was that he was actually terrified. He was so tired of always being this scared. Every day they had to fight for their lifes and Stiles often woke up in sweat every morning. There were times where he couldn't sleep because he feared for all their lifes. And right now being in this bunker where it was freezing and with a murderous group of men behind the door, he felt hopeless.

 

“You are”, Derek replied.

 

“Then why are you asking??”, Stiles almost shouted at Derek and looked at him with angry tears in his eyes. He felt horrible for it but his nerves were on overdrive at the moment and his head was still throbbing.

 

_Because I care about you!!_ Derek wanted to shout in return but didn't. There was no point. Stiles clearly had been tortured and Derek knew what this could do to the mind. The thought of the man punching Stiles almost made him so furious and he had to focus on getting his breathing under control again. He took a deep breath and took off his jacket. Stiles watched him.

 

“Here”, Derek walked closer to the bars, “take my jacket.”

 

“I don't need it”, Stiles said and wrapped his arms around his knees. He was still just in a shirt and Derek was starting to get worried. But right now Stiles' attitude was getting on his nerves. Stiles never wanted anybody to worry about him, but Derek couldn't help it. He wanted to shout at Stiles again for being so stupidly selfless.

 

“Well if you wanna walk out of here with only four fingers on each hand then go for it I guess”, he said and shrugged his shoulders. But he didn't move and still held out his jacket through the bars. Stiles imitated him.

 

“Well if you wanna walk out of here with only four fingers on each hand”, Stiles said in a mocking tone. He looked at Derek who just raised his eyebrows. Stiles was actually really cold. He kept trying to suppress shudders, but by now his whole skin was covered in goosebumps. He contemplated taking the jacket or not, but another shudder rocked his body. With a sigh he pushed himself off the floor and all his muscles hurt. He slowly walked across the cell and took the jacket Derek was still holding out. When he put it on he was hit with Derek's warmth and scent and nearly sighed.

 

“Thank you”, he muttered under his breath and Derek nodded in return. It was quite for a while.

 

“You wanna talk about it?”, Derek asked carefully. Stiles looked up.

 

“Since when do you care?”, he regretted asking it, but he was so done with everything right now. The dull ache that was flowing through his body didn't help. Derek was hurt by that question but he also knew why Stiles would think that. One day he would be able to explain it all to him, maybe if they ever got out of here.

 

“I am sorry”, Stiles said defeatedly, “that wasn't fair of me.”

 

Stiles dropped down close to where Derek was sitting and sighed.

 

“Still planning on getting us out of here?”, he asked but his tone was sounding so hopeless. Derek moved so that he was looking directly at Stiles.

 

“I promise you”, he emphasised every word, “I promise you I will get you out of here.”

 

Stiles looked at him tiredly and everytime Derek saw the blood on his face he wanted nothing more than to rip this man apart. Stiles wanted to say something but then the door opened. The man came in again. He walked to their cells and stopped in front of it. He first looked at Stiles and there was a small smile on his lips as if he was proud of himself for doing this to him. Then his gaze wandered to Derek who was bubbling with anger.

 

“So, since your little friend here wasn't any help, how about you tell us who the benefactor is?”

 

Before Derek could stop him Stiles was already talking.

 

“Listen here you little shit”, Derek could hear Stiles' voice tremble, “no matter how often you will repeat it, the answer will still be the same: FUCK! YOU!”

 

“Stiles!”, Derek said warningly under his breath. He knew that Stiles' mind sometimes went nuts, but this here really wasn't the time. The man moved his glance to Stiles and looked at him with an annoyed expression.

 

“Now is not your turn sweetie. But don't worry, we aren't done with you yet.”

 

Stiles swallowed hard and tried to fight against another panic attack. But he wasn't gonna let these guys win.

 

“Derek”, Stiles looked at him, “don't go with them. We don't need to do what they say”, he said and looked at the man with fury in his eyes. The man looked back at Stiles for a second, then sighed and took out his crossbow again. Derek braced for the impact but this time it was pointed at Stiles. Without thinking Derek ran to the bars and started pleading.

 

“No no! Wait please don't! Please don't do this! I will go with you, I promise!”

 

Stiles looked at Derek in confusion. This was the first time Derek reacted like this. And were these tears in Derek's eyes? The man opened the gate, but didn't lower his crossbow. Stiles was shocked when Derek walked out of the cell without thinking twice.

 

“Hey, wait”, Stiles walked to the front of the cell, but when the man walked closer to his cell with the crossbow still raised Stiles stepped back.

 

“It's okay”, Derek just said and continued following the man outside. Stiles wanted to say something again, but Derek just looked at him and Stiles closed his mouth. Derek didn't break the glance until he was out of the door.

 

Now it was Stiles' turn to worry and he did. He knew what these guys were capable of. When he closed his eyes he still felt their hands on him. Stiles shuddered at the thought of that and burried himself deeper into Derek's jacket. The scent helped him calm down. All of a sudden he felt totally helpless and couldn't help the tears from falling down his cheeks. His head was still throbbing and he wanted nothing more than to go home to his dad and sleep forever. He felt a panic attack roll over him and started to weep. His vision turned blurry from all the tears and he was just so completely exhausted. He couldn't form a clear thought and tried distracting himself with thinking about his dad or Scott or Lydia or Allison. Everybody except for Derek. Because Derek was probably being tortured right now and Stiles couldn't let his mind paint that picture for him. So he closed his eyes and thought about the last time his dad and him went to a diner together. Or the time Scott helped him during lacrosse practice. And slowly he started to get his breathing under control again.

 

When Derek came back he looked worse than Stiles had expected. Sure he knew that Derek was a werewolf and that he would heal again, but this didn't make it better. With the wolfsbane still being in his system his healing abilities were slowed down drastically. His heart ached at the site of Derek like this. His skin looks like it had been burned at some areas and they definitely made use of the pincers on Derek's fingernails. He was barely conscious and it required all three men to drag him back into his cell. Stiles was too shocked to say anything and just dropped next to the bars connecting the two cells when they threw Derek onto the concrete floor. The man with the dark blond hair who had tortured Stiles shot him a smile and winked. Stiles felt hot and cold shivers down his spine. The men left again.

 

“Derek?”, Stiles whispered and tried to reach out for him but he was too far away. Derek's eyelids flattered, but he still wasn't fully conscious. Then Stiles remembered the flasks on the shelf. Did they infuse him with something? He hoped not. It took a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity for Stiles, and finally Derek moved. Stiles had been sitting at the bars the whole time and now looked up. Derek groaned and propped himself up on his ellbows. He caught Stiles' glance.

 

“Hey”, Stiles said quietly. Derek just groaned again in response and fell back to the floor. Everything hurt and he could feel his body slowly trying to knit itselt back together.

 

“Didn't know there were three of them”, Derek said with a chuckle and Stiles just forced a small smile on his face.

 

“How are you?”, Stiles asked him. Derek gave him a tumbs up.

 

“I am peachy”, he said and Stiles huffed a laugh even though he felt like crying again. Derek did as well. They were both exhausted so Stiles just leaned onto the bars and closed his eyes. Derek was still laying on the floor. The coldness of it did wonders but it didn't help calming his racing mind down. They had to get out of here, but how?

 

Lydia had been going after a lead to find a group of druids near Los Angeles. Druids had a wide knowledge of rituals and maybe they could use one of them to find out more about this hit list or rather who made it. Lydia was sitting in a rather shitty motel and looking at things on the internet. She had already combed through a few suburbs but all of them had been a dead end until now. She found out something about a group of druids in a small town in the southern part of LA. Tomorrow she would drive there, she just wouldn't give up. It was getting late already and she decided to quit research for tonight and try to get some decent sleep. With everything that had happened until now her sleeping schedule was all kinds of messed up. She went under the shower and tried relaxing her tensed muscles. After that she turned off the light and went under the sheets. She tossed and turned for about an hour and then finally fell asleep. But sadly she didn't get much rest from it. She found herself being in a black room all made out of concrete. Her vision cleared and she made out two shapes laying on the floor in the far courner of the room. Carefully she made her way towards them. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Derek and Stiles were laying on the floor covered in blood.

 

“Derek?? Stiles!”, Lydia screamed and ran towards them but then collided with an invisible wall. She started pounding at it, but they didn't hear her. A group of men suddenly appeared and Stiles and Derek were on their feet pleading for them to stop. Lydia didn't understand at first but then she saw the knives in their hands. She tried to break through the wall, but there was no point. Lydia saw Derek and Stiles being tortured by men all dressed in black and she could hear their screams of agony so loud as if they would be standing right next to her.

 

“No! NO! Please!”, they were screaming and their faces were distorted into a mask of pain. Blood was all over their bodies but the men kept kicking and punching them. By now Lydia was pounding against the invisible wall and screaming her lungs out. But the men didn't stop. With a loud gasp Lydia woke up. She was shaking and her hair was sticking to her forehead. Her breaths came out uneven and her heart was racing and made her chest hurt. She tried to calm herself down.

 

“It's okay, it was just a dream, it was just a dream”, she kept repeating it but the words felt wrong. Had it really been just a dream? She looked at the clock and saw that it was in the middle of the night but she had to call Stiles now. She knew that she was being ridiculous but a small part of her brain urged her to call him right now. Lydia dialed his number with shaky fingers and waited anxiously for him to pick up.

 

“Hey, this is Stiles-”, a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders and she let out a big breath.

 

“Stiles, thank god, I-”

 

“-and you missed me, please leave a message after the beep.”

 

Her heart ached and she felt shivers down her spine. _Maybe he is just under the shower and didn't hear the phone_ she tried to tell herself. She decided to leave a message after all, she needed to calm her mind down.

 

“Hey Stiles, this is Lydia. I am sorry that I am calling you, I just...had this dream and...yeah, anyway....could you please call me back ASAP? Thank you, bye.”

 

She hung up the phone, but didn't feel better. Lydia was biting on her nails while her mind was going crazy. She decided to call Derek as well, since he had been in her dream, too. But it was the same result.

 

“This is Derek, you know what to do.” _beep_

 

Again, Lydia left a message to have him call her as soon as he would listen to it, but she almost couldn't bring any words out. She tried telling herself that it had just been a dream, but the feeling in her gut told her otherwise. She waited for a few more minutes and anxiously walked around the room. Then she couldn't help but call Scott and Allison to ask them what to do. But they were somewhere in Mexico and didn't have any cell service apparently since none of them picked up their phone either. Lydia was starting to panic for real now since she couldn't reach anybody. She knew that they needed the help of the druids and she was so close, but her friends were way more important right now so she hastily packed her bags and ran to her car to drive back to Beacon Hills.

 

Scott and Allison didn't know anything about this. They were still in Mexico and in the middle of nowhere. Trying to find the Skinwalkers was harder than they thought. But they needed their help for the fight against the new threat,so they kept driving across the desert. When it had became nightfall they had put the seats down in the car and right now Allison was laying in Scott's arms. He was dragging his fingers across Allison's skin.

 

“Do you think we will find them tomorrow?”, Allison mumbled into Scott's chest.

 

“Yeah”, his chest rumbled, “and if not then we will find them the day after that.”

 

Allison smiled. That was one of the reasons why he loved Scott so much. He was always optimistic and wanted to save everyone. He had such a big heart and Allison was so proud of him for that.

 

“We definitely need to get some place where there is cell service soon, though”, he added, “maybe the others found out something already and we are wasting our time out here.”

 

Allison got up on her ellbow and looked at Scott.

 

“I wouldn't call this _wasting time_ ”, she said with a mischevious smile. Scott started to smile as well.

 

“You are right”, he said and pulled her close to kiss her. But Scott was right. They had to get in touch with the others. More than they knew.

 

Back in the cell Stiles and Derek both fell asleep, but were jerked awake by the door opening. Both jumped up. At the sight of the man Stiles' heart started to race.

 

“Alright ladies, round 2”, the man said and started to open Stiles' gate. To Derek's surprise Stiles went willingly. Stiles had realised that there was no point in making the situation worse by not cooperating. He was still trying to buy time to think about an exit route. But Derek didn't know about that plan yet. He couldn't let Stiles get tortured again. What if this time they did something worse to him? He ran to the bars at the front of the cell.

 

“No, hey! Stop”, he pleaded, “we don't know anything, but we have money. Lots of it, if we can just make a deal then-”

 

“I am not interested in your deal, wolf. What benefit do I have from money if I am dead?”

 

Derek wanted to say something again, but this time Stiles cut him off.

 

“Derek it's okay, just please stop.”

 

“NO! It's not okay!”, Derek responded enraged.

 

“You guys are getting on my nerves”, the man said and took out his crossbow again. He aimed it at Derek but Stiles jumped in front of it. He held his hands up in surrender.

 

“Okay, okay, I am coming with you! Just please don't hurt him!”

 

“Stiles, what the hell-”

 

“JUST SHUP UP DEREK!”, Stiles shouted and turned towards Derek, “I am trying to save your life, dumbass!”

 

Derek was taken aback by that and actually shut up. Stiles let out a big shaky breath and nodded at Derek. Then he turned around and walked with the man out of the room.

 


	3. The Failed Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this chapter took a while... I had some stuff to deal with so that's why, but anyway here it finally is ♥

They had to get out of here and they had to do it fast. Neither of them knew if Scott and the others had figured out that they had been taken or if they were coming after them. So they decided to make an escape plan. The next time the man would take Derek out of his cell, Stiles would distract him so that Derek could knock the man down. Then he would take the keys and they would be out of here. So this was exactly what they did.

 

The man came inside and opened Derek's cell. Just before they went outside the bunker Stiles started talking. He was super nervous, so his voice was louder than expected.

 

“Hey!”, he practically screamed at the man to get his attention because he was scared that otherwhise the man wouldn't bother and the whole plan would fail, “why are you doing this? Just let us go!”

 

The man rolled his eyes and slowly turned towards Stiles with an annoyed expression. He sighed and walked closer to the cell. Stiles unvoluntarily flinched and wanted to step back but didn't want to give the man the satisfaction.

 

“You know what? If you keep talking like that I might rethink this whole situation and kill you right here right now”, he stressed every word. Stiles swallowed. Then Derek hit the man in the back of the head with such a force he came crushing down to the floor and was unconscious immediately. Stiles let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Derek did the same and smiled at him timidly before getting down next to the man and looking for the keys.

 

“Okay”, he said when he found them, “let's get out of here, but remember, be quiet.”

 

Stiles nodded and took the hand Derek was holding out. It felt weird but also kinda nice. Derek just wanted to keep Stiles close, because right now this was his only priority. And if that involved holding Stiles' hand, that this was even better. They fastly walked out of the room and tried to make as little noise as possible. But none of them knew where the exit exactly was so they just ran through various hallways. And every hallway looked the same, the same old concrete floor and walls. _How big is this place??_ Stiles thought to himself when they went around another corner. Then Derek heard something and pressed them both against the wall. Stiles sucked in a breath in surprise. Derek put a finger over his own mouth to remind Stiles to stay quiet. In the distance he heard the two other men walking through the maze of corridors. Apparently they were looking for them since the other tall men didn't come back with them yet.

 

Derek focused back on Stiles when he saw that he was starting to panic. To make Stiles come back to reality Derek took his hands and framed Stiles' face before thinking about it. Stiles' eyes shot open at the sudden contact, but when he saw that it was Derek, the first shock was over quickly. The thought that these men could catch them at any moment though made his heartbeat go faster and faster. But he knew that this was a really bad timing and so he tried calming himself down. He closed his eyes and took a few deep shaky breaths. Derek kept looking around, scared that the other men would catch up on them. Then he felt the panic leave Stiles. Stiles opened his eyes again and looked at Derek who still had his hands on his face. Derek held the glance for a while. He then noticed it and quickly removed his hands and cleared his throat. Stiles smiled timidly at him and Derek returned it the same way. Derek then focused back on his hearing for a second and then motioned Stiles to follow him again.

 

They went through another hallway and Derek was about to go back when Stiles pulled at his hand and made him stop and look at him. Stiles furiously pointed at the hallway opening up next to him and Derek looked at him with a confused look on his face, before he understood. There was a soft breeze coming from this hallway and this means... _Exit_ , Derek thought and Stiles did the same because a huge but tired grin was forming on his face. Derek huffed a laugh and ran with Stiles around the corner just to nearly collide with the dark blond men.

 

Both their heartbeats spiked and and Stiles just thought  _no no no, please god no_ and whimpered. Derek pushed Stiles behind his back immediately and growled at the man who started to smile devilishly.

 

“Hey!”, he shouted in a random direction, “Steve, Tim, I found them!”

 

Derek just pulled Stiles further behind his back and tightened the hold of him. Both of them didn't know what to say, they were frozen in shock. Derek heard the other men running towards them and tears of anger were forming in his eyes. They had failed.

 

“Oh you are gonna be in so much trouble”, the man, whose name they didn't know yet, said to them.

 

“Oh my god, oh my god”, Stiles mumbled behind Derek's back and leaned onto him in exhaustion. The other men came sprinting around the courner.

 

“Good job, Jonathan!”, one of the men said and clapped on his shoulder.

 

“Tim, what the hell happened to you?!”, so apparently the tall men who was always taking them out of their cells was called _Tim_. And he was _very_ mad. He took a few steps towards Derek and then punched him in the gut with such a force that Derek groaned.

 

“You are gonna regret doing that”, his hateful glance wandered towards Stiles, “both of you!”

 

Steve and Jonathan just laughed.

 

“Damn, you let _him_ do this to you?”

 

“Shut up!”, Tim shouted at them and they stopped laughing but still kept the grin on their faces. They grabbed Stiles and Derek forcefully and dragged them towards their cells again. The whole time Derek's mind was racing. He tried to think about another possible escape, but couldn't think straight. Stiles just was silent and stared into nothingness.

 

They both got pushed into their cells again and then the door was shut with a bang. Derek let out a big and shaky breath.

 

“Okay...okay, minor setback”, he tried to lift the mood but then looked at Stiles who was sitting at the wall. He looked defeated and like he had lost all hope. Derek slowly walked towards the bars.

 

“Stiles?”

 

Stiles looked at him and wiped his face when some tears were falling down. Derek felt horrible. Stiles forced a smile on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes.

 

“There is no point Derek”, his voice was sounding so tired, “there is nothing we can do”, he added quietly and looked back at his hands. Derek wanted to say something, but he knew that Stiles was right. After this failed attempt they would keep a closer eye on them.

 

Where were Scott and the others?

 

What they didn't know was that Scott and Allison had actually found the Skinwalkers. They had been driving around the desert when suddenly a spear was flying through the air and landing directly in front of the car.

 

“What the-”, Scott started and abruptly stopped the car. Allison was thrown back into her seat, she had been staring at the map.

 

“Jesus, Scott”, she started but then looked up and saw the spear. It was made out of wood with feathers at the end and it looked old. Before they could say anything further, three Skinwalkers shot out of earth and landed on the sides of the car. They looked terrifying and Scott and Allison both swallowed. They looked at each other and then Scott slowly opened the door and exited the car. Allison did the same. The Skinwalkers didn't let them out of their sight. Allison and Scott both had their arms up in surrender and tried to not make sudden moves. Just as a precaution Allison let the door open, because her bow was stashed inside it.

 

“We are not here to fight you, we just want to talk”, Scott started, but the Skinwalkers weren't having it right now and suddenly charged at them. Scott quickly half-shifted and Allison grabbed her bow from the car to defend her. Both of them didn't attack the Skinwalkers. Even if they wanted to, they wouldn't stand a chance against them. And defending themselves was hard enough, because the Skinwalkers had impressive battle skills. Soon enough Allison was on the floor, holding her arm which was dripping of blood and looking up at the Skinwalker who raised her spear. She braced for the impact and closed her eyes.

 

“STOP!”, Scott yelled and jumped between Allison and the Skinwalker. This stupidity made the Skinwalker actually stop and all three finally stopped fighting them. They didn't lower their weapons, but they saw, that Allion and Scott were worthy opponents.

 

“Stop!”, Scott said again, “we don't want to fight, please, we just need your help and then we are leaving again. I promise!”

 

Two of the Skinwalkers were looking at the one with the biggest headdress. She was looking back at them and then at Scott and Allison. Then her hand shot up and everybody lowered their weapons.

 

“Talk”she demanded.

 

Scott let out a big breath and turned around to help Allison up.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah”, she breathed, “just a scratch.”

 

Scott smiled at her and she returned it. She then looked at the Skinwalkers who were still waiting for them to speak. And so Scott straightened his shoulders and told them the whole story about the hit list.

 

“Do you have any idea who might have wrote it?”, Scott asked hopeful after finishing his story.

 

The whole time the Skinwalkers didn't move or talk back. Now their leader opened her mouth.

 

“We don't know anything about this list of yours”, Scott and Allison's face crumbeled. Had everything been for nothing?

 

“Isn't there anything you can tell us? _Anything?_ ”, Allison tried.

 

“We have no interest in helping you.”

 

“No interest?”, now Allison was getting angry, “innocent people are _dying!_ How can that not bother you?”

 

Scott motioned for Allison to calm down, but he understood her. Everybody should care about something like that.

 

“Then at least fight by our side”, he said, “as equals. We can defeat this person or whatever it is and then you will never see us again! But we need your help, please.”

 

The Skinwalkers didn't look impressed and Allison's heart sank to the floor.

 

“Please”, Scott tried again, “I am a shapeshifter just like you. My whole world is in danger, which means yours is as well. We need each other.”

 

It was quiet for a while, except for the wind in their ears. Then the leader spoke again.

 

“Fine”, Scott and Allison let out a big breath, “we wil help you, but if we see that the enemy is too powerful then we are leaving you behind.”

 

It was harsh, but Scott understood why she had said that. She was just trying to save her people.

 

“That's okay”, he said and nodded. The leader nodded back and three huge dust clouds appeared and then they were gone.

 

Allison and Scott looked at each other, she was still holding her arm. Then they hugged and let out shaky breaths. They weren't alone in this fight. They could still win it.

 

After that success they were on their way back to Beacon Hills to bring the news to the others. Lydia had already arrived at her house and was impatiently pacing through the room. Neither one of her friends picked up their phones and so there was nothing she could do right now. Going alone would be stupid and reckless, additionally to that she had no idea where to start anyway. Then _finally_ her phone ran.

 

“Allison, thank god! What took you guys so long?”, she said before Allison could say a word.

 

“I am sorry, we just got back to civilisation. You left me like two hundred messages! What's wrong?”, she asked and her voice was almost shaking. She knew that Lydia calling her that often wasn't a good sign.

 

“EVERYTHING!”, Lydia said with a groan, “didn't you listen to my messages?”

 

“Lydia, you left me _4_ _3_ messages”, Allison said with a small smile in her voice, “I figured calling you would be better. And faster.”

 

“Well what's the point of an answering machine if nobody listens to it?”, Lydia asked frantically, “okay so I had this dream about Stiles and Derek and they were both in pain or tortured or I don't know, I don't really want to think about that right now. Anyway. I had this dream and I woke up and it felt like it had been more than a dream, you know?”

 

“Like a vision?”, Scott asked. Allison had put the call on speaker.

 

“Yeah kinda. And then I tried calling them but nobody picked up. And then you guys didn't either so I drove back to Beacon Hills, hoping to find them, but they still didn't pick up their phones and I wanted to wait for you, because everybody knows that going alone results in death.”

 

She took a deep breath and waited anxiously for them to talk.

 

“Okay, we will be back in a few hours, can you wait so long?”, Scott asked. They believed her, because Lydia had never been wrong when it came to her _feelings_. But she was also right regarding the “going alone equals death” part.

 

“Can you do it faster?”, Lydia asked. She was so scared that they might come too late for whatever was happening.

 

“We'll be there in two”, Allison said, “take care and wait for us, okay?”

 

“Okay, see you then”, Lydia ended the phone call. She felt better after finally talking to someone about that. The next two hours would be agonising, but this was the only solution right now. And then her doorbell was finally ringing and she sprinted down and almost ripped the door out off its hinges.

 

“Get in the car”, Scott was calling from the car, “we are driving to the loft right now!”

 

Allison was at the door and took Lydia in a fierce hug before running to the car with her. The whole ride to the car they updated her on the “Skinwalker situation” and she was more than relived to find out that at least one of their deals had succeeded. She also told them about her attempt to find the Druids and promised to get back on the case when this situation here was under control again.

 

They arrived at the loft and carefully exited the car. Scott had his werewolf senses on high alert.

 

“What do you feel, Scott?”, Allison asked him.

 

“I smell us, Lydia, Stiles, Derek, You, Me. But then...also foreign smells. I can't quite identify them. It's definitely a new smell.

 

“But are they still here?”, Lydia asked. Scott took a while to focus.

 

“No”, he then said, “they are gone. Let's go upstairs.”

 

Scott went first and both girls followed him. They all tried to be as quiet as possible even though they trusted Scott with saying that nobody was here anymore. The stairs to the loft were splashed with a few drops of blood here and there and made their stomachs turn. Scott slowly opened the door and they all got inside. The sight of the loft was worse than they imagined. There was broken glass everywhere and more blood in two small puddles on the floor.

 

“No”, Lydia breathed and tried not to throw up. She was so scared that her vision became true and that Stiles and Derek were both dead already. But until she hadn't seen their bodies, everything was still possible. They still could be okay. Right?

 

Scott was still frozen in shock as well, so Allison was the first to find two arrow heads next to the puddles. She slowly picked them up and looked at them. She then turned around to her friends.

 

“Look” she said and both Lydia and Scott got closer. Before anybody could say anything further Lydia noticed Stiles' and Derek's cell phones.

 

“Well now I know why I couldn't reach anybody”, she said and picked them both up. They were all quiet for a while, trying to process the situation.

 

“What do we do now?”, Allison quietly said and looked at Scott. He looked like he was about to loose it, but he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he exhaled he didn't really feel better, but freaking out wasn't going to help anybody today.

 

“Okay”, he started, “we don't know who took them and why, but we can't waste any more time. I know that right now we were supposed to deal with a different threat, but this here is way more important. We will continue the research and everything once we found them, alright? I say we follow their scent and check it out. And if we need backup then we call your dad”, he looked at Allison who nodded, “but I don't want to make too much noise while tracking them down, so we should do it on our own for now. What do you say?”

 

Allison and Lydia looked at each other first. Both were terrified, but they knew that Scott was right.

 

“We are in”, Lydia then said and Scott nodded.

 

“Alright”, he said and they all made their way out into the woods.

 

The whole time Stiles and Derek had been here the concept of time was nonexistant. Had it been days already since they had been taken? Or weeks? Stiles had no idea. The little food they were giving them wasn't enough to refill his energy. It was barely enough to make sure they both didn't starve. Even though Derek insisted on giving Stiles a portion of his own small ration, they often got into fights because of that (because why was Derek always the one sacrificing himself??), Stiles stomach was angrily twisting and turning. His whole body hurt and his muscles were sore. His witt and humour was gone too. There was no way of getting out of here. They had tried it already. With Derek's super strength being almost gone due to the constant wolfsbane being infused into his system they were just two against three. Well, one and a half against three since Stiles had never had proper training. Sure he knew how to handle a knife or a bat, but only when he had enough time to think about his attack. In their training sessions back in Beacon Hills they had tried teaching him some attacks, but it had been so difficult for him to focus so they just tought him some basic defense. Nothing he could use against three men who were probably trained assassins.

 

“You know I do care about you, right?”, Derek's voice broke the silence. Stiles looked up at him.

 

“Yeah”, Stiles said after a while, but it didn't sound right. Derek sighed and rubbed his forehead.

 

“Why did I know that you were going to say this”, he answered quietly.

 

“Do you really blame me though?”, Stiles asked quietly as well. Derek looked back at him.

 

“No”, he then said. Stiles waited for him to say more.

 

“Well I do”, Derek said, “care about you, I mean”, he added with a small smile, “I guess I don't show it enough...”

 

“Well to be honest, shoving people into walls isn't the best way to do so”, Stiles said and a small smile was on his face. Derek chuckled.

 

“Maybe saying _thank you_ once in a while would also be great”, Stiles added quietly and looked back at his hands. It was quiet for a while.

 

“Thank you”, Derek said, “for saving my life multiple times. I don't even know if I would still be here without you, so...thank you.”

 

Stiles looked up again and saw the sincere look in Derek's eyes. Stiles shot him a smile.

 

“No worries”, he answered, “I do care about you too by the way”, the sentence was out of his mouth before he could stop it. Derek smiled back at him.

 

“Why does it take us being kidnapped to admit that”, Derek chuckled and Stiles just shrugged his shoulders.

 

“I guess I am just scared”, Derek whispered after a while.

 

“ _You_ are scared?”, Stiles raised his eyebrows, “you are a freaking werewolf!”

 

“That's not always a good thing...”, Derek looked at Stiles with a sad expression, “it's just that... Everyone I ever cared for has either left me or got hurt and I can't... I can't have that again with you”, his voice broke.

 

Stiles actually once in his life didn't know what do say. He just stared at Derek with his mouth slightly open.

 

“Anyway”, Derek harshly sucked in air and ran his hands over his face. He shot Stiles a small forced smile and then got up. He needed to walk around a bit because his emotions were completely all over the place. Stiles finally found his voice.

 

“I didn't know you feel that way”, he said and pushed himself off of the floor as well. Derek watched him walk towards the bars.

 

“But if there is one thing I can promise you it's that you are not gonna get rid off me. At least not voluntarily”, Stiles said and Derek could see that he really meant it. It almost made Derek choke up again and he nodded.

 

“Okay”, Stiles said and nodded as well. It felt good having said everything out loud for the first time. Stiles stayed at the bars a bit longer and then slid down to sit against them. Derek did the same and their shoulders touched, but none of them minded.

 

The men had been right. Stiles and Derek actually felt sorry for trying to escape since now the “questioning” part of this whole thing was more brutal than ever. When Tim opened Stiles' cage to take him Derek was sure he was gonna loose his mind. The look on Tim's face made his blood turn cold and he was actually scared that he might not see Stiles again. But they were both out of the door before Derek could do anything. He paced back and forth in his cell and felt so sick that he almost started to vomit. _It's my fault it's my fault_. It was like a mantra inside his head. If Stiles didn't come back then he would never forgive himself. And with every passing minute the panic rose inside his chest, making it hard to breathe. Then finally the door opened and...

 

“Stiles”, Derek breathed, because Tim was and Jonathan were holding a barely conscious and bloody Stiles upright between them. Derek's eyes started to tear up and his hands were shaking when he saw them throw Stiles into his cell. He barely recalled them leaving the bunker, he just fell down to the floor next to Stiles.

 

Stiles' face was bloody and bruised and his breaths came out shallow and harsh. He was laying on his back and Derek could see, that the whole front of his shirt was torn apart and stained in red as well. His leather jacket, which Stiles had still been wearing, was hanging in shreds from Stiles' shoulders, but Derek couldn't care less about his stupid jacket now.

 

“Stiles?”, Derek's voice broke and he cleared his throat, before he called again, “Stiles, can you hear me?”

 

But no response. If it hadn't been for the rapid rising and falling of Stiles' chest, than Derek would have thought that it was over.

 

“This is all my fault, this is all my fault”, Derek began crying and got up to pace back and forth again. His mind was racing and the world started to get out of focus.

 

“Oh my god, oh my god...”, he mumbled while running his hands across his face and through his hair. He wanted nothing more than to trade with Stiles, so that _he_ would have the healing powers and Derek would be laying on the floor, because he felt like he deserved that. He took a few deep breaths and sat down at the bars again. He didn't want to but the thought of leaving here alive was moving further and further away from him. Suddenly the door opened and Tim was there again, still covered in Stiles' blood. 

 

“Your turn alpha”, Tim practically spat in his face and opened the cage door. But Derek didn't move. He couldn't leave Stiles like that, so he just looked at Tim with so much hate in his eyes while the tears were still falling down his face.

 

“Jesus, your little princess is still alive, now get up!”, Tim shouted the last part and reached around to take his crossbow out again.

 

“Just let him go, please”, Derek tried again and his voice broke.

 

“Why? So that he can run around and tell everybody about us? Sorry, but I don't want to be torn to shreads by your werewolf friends”, Tim said and now pointed the crossbow at him.

 

“Move”, he said.

 

Derek held his glance for a while and then slowly got up. He looked at Stiles who was still unconscious on the floor before following Tim outside. The walk to the torture chamber was known by now. Derek wondered how big this whole underground system was, since it had taken them so long to find that stupid exit. Too long. Derek got pushed inside the room and saw a small pool of blood on the floor. It smelled like Stiles and Derek lost it.

 

“You sons of-”, he screamed but then Tim had already pushed the crossbow into his back and pulled the trigger. Derek felt the familiar feeling of wolfsbane in his body and grunted before falling to the floor. He was raging with anger and fury but his body didn't cooperate. His mouth however did.

 

“I swear to god, if we get out of here then I will make sure to TEAR YOU INTO SHREDS!”, he screamed while they dragged him up to the electrical fence that was at the right end of the room.

 

“Sure thing big guy, a guy can dream”, Jonathan said and the others laughed. Derek felt so hopeless he could have cried but didn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him like that. When they were done his feet and hands were cuffed to the fence and Steve moved to the panel. He turned the dial and Derek bit his lip to not scream. The electricity shot through his veins and it felt like his blood was boiling. Steve turned the dial up and Derek couldn't help the scream coming out of him. When he felt the electricity leave his body again his head fell onto his chest.

 

“Aren't you gonna ask me more of your stupid questions?”, he said and looked up at Tim with fury in his eyes. To his surprise Tim shook his head.

 

“Nah, I know that you guys don't know anything”, Derek held his breath in surprise.

 

“Then why?”, he almost whispered.

 

“You see, if we let you go now then you are just gonna get your friends to hunt us and we aren't really up for that. So...”, Tim got closer to Derek and pulled out a knife, “so we are gonna keep you here while we are thinking of a new plan. But we don't want you get your strength back up so this little party of ours is going to continue until we know what to do with you guys”, he said and then pressed the knife into Derek's chest. Derek grunted.

 

“Maybe we will kill you”, Tim said casually while slicing down Derek's torso, “or maybe we will keep you as hostages when your friends arrive. I am sure seeing you like that is enough motivation to get me my information about the benefactor.”

 

Tim ripped the knife out of Derek's chest and Derek sucked in a big breath. His skin was trying to knit itself together, but the pace was so slow, that soon blood was collecting in a small puddle underneath him. Derek felt like crying because of the situation Stiles and him were both in. Steve turned the dial again and soon the room was filled with Derek's screams. At some point he fell unconscious. Then they spashed ice cold water at him and he woke up with a gasp.

 

“There he is”, Jonathan laughed and put the bucket down. Derek was panting and frantically looked around the room. Jonathan came closer and patted his cheek.

 

“You are done for today big guy.”

 

Derek couldn't do anything expect stare at him. His mind was foggy and he looked down at his body, but couldn't see his skin. There was a thick layer of dried and fresh blood all over him and he was sure, that without his supernatural abilities he would have been dead. Suddenly the cuffs were being opened and he fell to the floor face down. He tried catching the fall with his hands but could see that some of his fingers were broken. Jonathan and Tim picked him up and dragged him to his feet, but he couldn't stand on his own and fell back down again. The men just laughed at him and then picked him up again.

 

“Not so tough now, huh?”, Steve whispered into Derek's ear and he felt goosebumps forming on his entire skin. The other two men held him upright and dragged him out of the room and back into his cell. Then Derek remembered that Stiles had still been unconscious when Derek had left. He hoped that this wasn't still the case now. When they arrived at the bunker Derek already felt a bit better, but he still couldn't stand up on his own. They pushed the door open and Derek looked at Stiles' cell immediately. Stiles met his glance and Derek could have cried, because _he was alive_. He was sitting at the wall his arms just hanging by his sides but he was looking back at Derek and his breathing wasn't as shallow anymore.

 

“See you later ladies”, Tim said and closed the door.

 

Derek robbed to the bars, he was still too weak to sit up. He took some deep breaths and yanked his fingers into the right position again. He surpressed a grunt when he was done. He then looked at Stiles, who was still looking like shit. The blood on his shirt had dried and was now hanging stiffly on his body. He was still wearing Derek's jacket, even though nobody could call it a jacket anymore. And he was crying, or at least had been, because his cheeks were wet and his eyes red. But the sight of Derek like that snapped him back into reality. He ran his hand across his face and slowly pushed himself upright. When he stood he took a few steadying breaths, because the blood was rushing through his ears. When he opened his eyes again he was Derek looking at him. Stiles made his way across the cell to get to him.

 

“Hey, are you alright?”, Derek asked Stiles. He was so pale and Derek could see a thin layer of sweat covering his face. _How much blood did he lose already?_

 

“Yeah yeah, I'm...”, Stiles started but then his voice left him and he swayed and fell against the bars.

 

“Wow”, he said and slowly slid to the floor. Everything was spinning and there were hot and cold shivers running down his spine. He felt aweful. Derek was next to him in seconds. He dragged himself into a sitting position close to Stiles. His heart was beating out of his chest. He placed his hand on Stiles' shoulder through the bars and squeezed it. He started to take some pain as well, since he couldn't see Stiles like this. Stiles patted Derek's hand and then let his head fall back and his eyes close.

 

“You are not gonna faint now, are you?”, Derek tried to lift the mood to hide his blank panic, but Stiles just chuckled and it sounded wrong. His hand over Derek's was clammy and cold and Derek wondered if Stiles was really okay or if this was just a reaction of his body reacting to the adrenaline rush leaving his body.

 

The world was still totally out of focus for Stiles. So he kept his eyes shut and tried blocking everything out. The steadying hand on his shoulder helped him with that and he could feel Derek's warmth and confort seek through them.

 


	4. The Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a while, because a lot of stuff is happening right now, but it's finally here, so yay ♥

They were both completely exhausted. At some point the men decided to stop the torture for a while and to think of a new plan. Stiles and Derek approved of this situation, but both didn't really care at this point. They knew that their friends weren't abandoning them, but it had been days or weeks already since both of them had been taken. While Derek finally slowly was getting his strength back up, Stiles was a wreck. He reeked of pain and didn't talk much. In the beginning Derek was still trying to lift the mood and to show Stiles, that not all hope was lost, but by now even Derek accepted their situation. It really worried him to see Stiles like that. It was still so cold in here and now that Derek's leather jacket wasn't providing any warmth anymore, Stiles had started to shiver again. Most of the time he was asleep, either leaning onto the wall or being curled up on the floor. His face was purple and blue and green and yellow and it just looked wrong. 

 

“Hey”, Derek whispered and then cleared his throat, because his voice was so raspy, “you still with me?”

 

Derek was slowly pulling himself into a sitting position. Even though he felt his strength coming back he was still incredible weak. Black spots were dancing in his vision from this movement alone and the blood was rushing through his ears.

 

“Yeah”, Stiles breathed and opened his eyes to tiny slots. He smiled at Derek and then his eyes dropped close again. He was so tired and the dull ache flowing through his body made his brain all fuzzy. He opened his eyes again and saw Derek sitting at the opposite wall. He looked as horrible as Stiles was feeling. His hair was sweaty and sticking to his forehead and his breaths came out harsh.  _ His body must be fighting the wolfsbane _ , Stiles thought. He was worried about Derek as well. He knew that wolfsbane poisoning can be deadly and so every ragged breath from Derek send a shiver down Stiles' spine.

 

“How about you?”, he asked back.

 

“Still breathing”, Derek joked and huffed out a laugh. Stiles chuckled as well. He then closed his eyes again and tried fighting off the pain. Sleeping was the best that could happen right now, because it made you forget everything for a while. Derek did the same, but he never stopped reaching out to Stiles with his senses. His smell was still all wrong, but at least his heartbeat was the same and reminded him of home and better times. Even though it was slower than usual.

 

And then suddenly there was a loud bang and when Derek's eyes shot open the door was gone. And Scott, Allison and Lydia were standing in the doorframe, out of breath and Scott's face was bloody. They all started smiling and laughing and talking and it was too much for Derek.  _ Was this here real? _ He looked to Stiles, who was looking at them all in disbelief, still laying on the floor. And then Scott was there, opening Derek's door and fastly approaching him.

 

“Oh my god, we found you, are you okay? We were so worried”, Scott was rambling in a fast pace and Derek only understood fragments. He was still so confused. Scott helped him stand and Derek felt like he was about to faint from the rapid movement. He held onto Scott with clammy hands. Derek finally found his voice.

 

“What are you guys doing here?”, his voice was still a bit raspy from the minimal usage.

 

“Saving you obviously”, Scott laughed even though he could have cried at the sight of Stiles and Derek. Derek huffed a laugh as well and pulled Scott into a big hug. Then he looked at Stiles who was being held up by Lydia and Allison. Derek's heart hurt at the sight of that and he hurried to get to him. When Stiles saw what Derek wanted he took a few steps towards him and then crushed into Derek's arms. Finally being able to hold Stiles close after all these days made Derek's eyes water. Stiles was way too exhausted to cry anymore, but he held onto Derek as strong as he could. When Derek broke the hug he wiped away some tears who escaped his own eyes.

 

“Let's get you guys out of here”, Lydia smiled through her tears. Now it was Stiles' who huffed a laugh, because he still couldn't believe that they could finally go home again. Derek supported almost all his weight when they made their way out of the bunker. They let Allison and the others go ahead since they still didn't know exactly where the exit was. On their way they saw the three corpses of their kidnappers, but neither Derek nor Stiles felt any guilt about that. They were just glad that it was over. Both were sweating from all this walking and Stiles could barely keep his eyes open. His feet were dragging over the floor and a few times he nearly collapsed.

 

“It's okay Stiles, I got you”, Derek whispered, “you are safe.”

 

Stiles just smiled up to him and nodded. It seemed like at this point he finally realised that they were okay. He was slowly falling asleep until he was tripping over his own feet. Derek just picked him up and Stiles clinged onto him like his life depended on it. It made Derek feel all fuzzy and warm inside and he smiled to himself. Stiles fell asleep immediately and Derek wanted nothing more than to join him. He could barely walk a straight line anymore, but right now this wasn't important. He couldn't lose another person just because he was too weak again. So he clenched his jaw and followed his friends. They finally reached the exit and stepped outside. Derek felt so weightless and free all of a sudden and could have cried again, but swallowed the tears down.

 

“We parked the car outside of the woods”, Allison looked at Derek with a worried expression, “do you think you can...you can go further?”

 

They all noticed the sweat forming on Derek's face and his twitching muscles. Scott was about to held his arms out to take Stiles from him, but Derek just held Stiles closer to his chest.

 

“No”, he panted, “I got this.”

 

Allison nodded and Scott smiled sadly.

 

“Alright”, Scott said, “let's go then.”

 

They kept a slow pace to make sure that Derek could keep up with them. Stiles was still asleep with his lips slightly and his fists clenched to Derek's shirt. Derek didn't recall much about the way to the car. He just tried to keep walking without fainting. Putting one foot in front of the other. He couldn't hear anything expect his own blood rushing trough his ears and his heart was pounding like crazy. By now he was almost dragging himself over the floor. And then  _ finally _ he could see Allison's car parking next to the woods. He could have cried again. Allison unlocked it and opened the door for Derek to crawl inside. He was still clutching onto Stiles' sleeping body, so it was a bit hard to put the seatbelt on, but he somehow managed to do it and put Stiles in the middle seat. He tried listening to the others, but as soon as the motor started and the car started to rumble his head fell onto Stiles' and he was asleep in no time.

 

Lydia was sitting next to them, holding Stiles' hand. Her stomach had finally stopped twisting and turning and she felt better every minute. Seeing Derek and Stiles together like this was weird, but not unexpected. They all saw the connection they obviously had. It actually looked adorable how they were sleeping and holding onto each other. Under different circumstances Lydia would have taken about a thousand pictures to show them both later and mock them. But this wasn't the time.

 

They arrived at Stiles' house first. Allison turned off the engine and the car was quiet except for Stiles' and Derek's deep and steady breaths.

 

“What should we do now?”, Allison whispered. Lydia just shrugged and Scott did as well. None of them wanted to wake either of them up. They sad in silence for a while, but then Scott slowly got out of the car and quietly opened Derek's door. He looked at Allison and Lydia, but both of them just shrugged their shoulders again, not knowing what to do. Scott thought about the best way to get Stiles out of the car without waking Derek up, but there was no way he could carry Stiles out of the car when Derek was sitting at the door. So he quietly called out to Derek.

 

“Derek? Derek, can you hear me?”, he whispered, but there was no response. He tried again, but got the same response. When he started shaking Derek softly he suddenly jerked awake and his heartbeat started to race.

 

“Hey, shhh, Derek it's okay! It's just me, it's okay!”, Scott tried calming Derek down and as soon as Derek could make out his surroundings he started to take deep breaths. The world was still spinning, because he was way too tired to function right now, but they were safe for now and this was all that mattered. He looked at Stiles who was still asleep, but stopped himself from reaching out to stroke his face.

 

“Sorry”, Derek breathed. He tried to get his breathing under control.

 

“That's okay”, Scott said understandingly and smiled sadly, “we are at Stiles' house, could you exit the car, so that I can bring him inside?”

 

“Yeah sure”, Derek said, but it wasn't easy leaving Stiles here. He knew, that he would be safe, but not being able to see him would be weird. Nonetheless he carefully removed Stiles' clenched fists from his shirt and exited the car on shaky legs. Scott reached over and scooped Stiles up into his arms. And with that he was gone. Derek got back into the car, but it felt empty. Lydia and Allison smiled at him, they both saw how hard it was for Derek. He smiled back at them, grateful that they were both here. Scott came back a few minutes later and opened the car door.

 

“His dad is still working, but I will stay here with Stiles...just in case. I am also gonna call my mom, so that she can look at him. Derek you take care of yourself, alright?”

 

“Thank you, I will”, Derek smiled at him and Scott went back into the house. The ride to Derek's loft was silent but not awkward. Derek tried not falling asleep, but his eyes dropped close almost every second. All the horror of the last days completely drained his battery. He just wanted to sleep and never wake up anytime soon. Then finally they arrived at his home and Derek dragged himself out of the car. Just as he wanted to close his door Lydia started talking.

 

“Hey, you sure you are alright? We can come up and...”, she looked genuinely worried and Allison did the same. Derek's heart fluttered at the sight of that. He really had the best friends in the entire world.

 

“I am good guys, thank you though. I think I am just gonna sleep for five years”, he chuckled and both nervously returned it. He waved them goodbye and made his way up to the loft. All his muscles hurt from the last days and as soon as he arrived at the loft he closed the door and barricaded it. He knew that he was safe right now, but couldn't help it. Then he fell onto his bed and was asleep immediately.

 

When he woke up he was so confused. He looked around, expecting brick walls and bloody floors, but he was met with his own loft. It was bright day light, but he had no idea if it was still the same day or the next. He rolled around in bed and sighed deeply. Slowly all the tension left his body and he started to feel at peace again. Derek dragged himself up into a sitting position and ran his hands over his face. From all the sleeping and walking he felt weak and raw, but he was home and this was helping immensely. He slowly got up and walked to the bathroom. He started to feel dizzy again and took a few seconds to steady himself before going into the shower. As soon as the warm water hit his skin he was first about to run out again, because it reminded him of the last days and all the torture they had to endure. But with every passing minute that he forced himself to keep standing under the water he relaxed more and more. He even let out a sigh and a few happy tears. And then he finally felt the wolfsbane leaving his body. It was a feeling of utter joy. He closed his eyes and enjoyed every second of it. When he got out of the shower he looked at himself in the mirror. There was a small smile on his face and he felt genuinely content.Then he got an idea.

 

He slowly and carefully started to reach out to his wolf. When the familiar feeling flowed through his body his smile grew wilder. His claws and fangs started to grow and he let out a small growl. It felt wonderful and his wolf felt complete. He felt whole again. Derek shifted back and with a last grin into the mirrow he walked into the living room again. He figured that Stiles must still be asleep after all this and didn't want to wake him. Besides he probably wanted to spend the day with other people for once like his dad or Scott. Derek would definitely check up on him later that day, but for now he wanted to give Stiles some space. He felt like a little boy being around Stiles. Always afraid of doing the wrong thing or being annoying. Being with Stiles for the last two days and now not being able to see him was the worst. But he wanted to wait a bit before checking up on him, because he was too afraid to annoy him.

 

Derek decided to make something to eat since he was starving. On his way to the kitchen he found his phone on the table. The screen was still intact, but the battery drained. He took it and plugged it into the socket. Then he went back to the kitchen and started boiling some pasta. His stomach was rumbling the whole time and he couldn't wait to finally eat something. After a few minutes the pasta was ready and he warmed up some pasta sauce and poured it over them. He took the steaming bowl and a glass of juice to his sofa and sat down. Derek turned on the tv and randomly switched through the channels until he found something worth watching. He took the first bite of pasta and it tasted better than anything he had ever tasted before. He happily finished the meal and laid down on the sofa. Derek remembered his phone and grabbed it.

 

“Jesus”, he muttered under his breath.

 

There were 21 calls from Lydia and about 30 text messages. He listened to the first message on his voice mail and was met with Lydia's panicked voice. Derek listened to a few more and then deleted them all. He wrote a small text to Lydia.

 

< _Thank you for coming after us. I am sorry that I caused you so much worry._ >

 

He didn't know what else to write and hoped that it was good enough. He felt horrible for making them all worry. If there was one thing he hated it was causing his friends any pain. But there was no point in worrying about the past anymore so Derek pushed the thoughts away. He watched tv for a bit but just for the sake of some voices in the background. He didn't want to, but he was slowly falling asleep again. Suddenly there was a loud ringing and he shot up. Had this all been a dream? Were they still trapped? But after a few seconds his mind cleared and he saw that it was just his phone. The caller ID said  _Stiles._ Derek picked up the phone with shaky hands.  _Please let him be okay, please let him be okay_ . By now he hated himself for not going to Stiles sooner. What if something had happened?

 

“Hello?”, he answered.

 

“Derek?”, Stiles voice sounded tired, but happy at the same time. Derek let out a big breath.

 

“Hey Stiles, yes I am here.”

 

“How are you?”

 

“I am good, thank you. Slept for god knows how long”, Derek chuckled.

 

“Yeah me too”, Stiles laughed, “although my dad kept waking me up every few hours to make sure I was still breathing.”

 

It wasn't the appropriate reaction but Derek laughed as well.

 

“They brought all the hospital equipment to our house since it would have been really weird trying to explain everything at the hospital without the police showing up right away, sooo...”

 

“Yeah”, Derek just answered. It was quiet for a few seconds.

 

“How are you feeling?”, Derek asked Stiles.

 

“To be honest, I have no idea with part of my body _doesn't_ hurt”, Stiles chuckled, but it sounded wrong, “but with all the werewolf magic and Melissa's help everything is bearable.”

 

“Did your dad freak out?”

 

“Oh you have no idea! First he kept shouting and then he was crying and then shouting again and I didn't know how to react, because I was high on painkillers and sleep deprived. I don't think he will ever let me do stuff on my own again”, Stiles sighed.

 

“Can't blame him though, I should have done more to protect you”, the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

 

“Hey, no this was nothing you could have prevented”, Stiles tried, but Derek interrupted.

 

“Well I should have sensed them earlier. This way we could have escaped.”

 

“They would have gotten us at some point. Or they could have taken innocent people.”

 

Derek knew Stiles was right. But it was still hard to accept it.

 

“You did good, Derek”, he said and Derek could sense that he really meant it. Derek didn't know how to respond to that. Didn't even know if he could.

 

“It feels weird not having you here right now”, Stiles said quietly. Derek huffed a laugh.

 

“Yeah it does. I could come over....if you want to.”

 

“Yeah of course! We might just be able to watch a movie or something, since I can't walk right now, but I have some pretty good ones. Dad is probably gonna make us a ton of food, too. Oh and Scott and Melissa are also here”, Stiles blabbered.

 

“Sounds perfect!”, Derek said with a smile. Stiles huffed a laugh through the phone.

 

“Alright”, he answered, “see you in a bit.”

 

“Bye.”  
  


Derek couldn't stop the huge grin forming on his face. He put his hands over his face, embarrased by this reaction, but still kept smiling. Something had changed between Stiles and him when they were in that bunker. It was another level of friendship, a deeper understanding of each other. Derek could now finally say, that he trusted Stiles with his life and he hoped that Stiles would say the same.

 


	5. Peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus christ, Idk why it took me 500 years to finish this fanfic, but I finally did it. The last chapter is probably one of my fav because it is pure fluff and Derek is wayy too adorable

It had been about a week since they both got rescued. The first two days had been horrible for Stiles, because nobody had left him alone. His dad had refused to go to work. Allison and the rest had stopped going to school, because they hadn't been able to focus anyway. Derek had been over once as well. At first it had been super weird, because they had been so awkward around each other, but it had gotten better with time. But at one point Stiles had practically held an intervention for them all and afterwards they finally continued with living their lifes. He really appreciated them all being there for him and it helped immensely with the recovery, but after some time their kindness was about to suffocate him. Stiles always hated that he was the one who was weak and pathetic, but what he didn't know was that Derek had trouble recovering as well.

 

Derek often found himself being jerked awake by a nightmare where he relived all the things they did to him. Sometimes Stiles was there too, either laying dead on the floor because Derek couldn't help him or begging the men to stop hurting them both. And sometimes it was just a big pit of darkness and he felt like he couldn't breathe. But the horror didn't stop when he woke up. Because even if he was awake, it was difficult for him to decide what was real and what wasn't.

 

Stiles had these nightmares as well, but they were nothing unusual for him. After almost every big fight against supernatural creatures he had trouble sleeping because he relived the things as well. Seeing his friends being torned to shreds or fighting for their lifes was not very pretty. He often woke up in cold sweat with his heart pounding inside his chest. Deciding what was real was difficult for him as well and he often found himself looking at old pictures of his friends and him to calm him down. The others continued looking for the druids, since Lydia had found some clues as to where they might hide. They were sure that with the help of the skinwalkers AND the druids they could defeat the new threat. Stiles hadn't been in school for nearly two weeks now. As the sheriff his dad could excuse him for that long, but Stiles knew that he had to go back sooner or later. Lydia and the others always brought him his homework and he wrote extra essays for his classes to make up for his missed attendence,but he desperately wanted to feel normal again.

 

Derek and him got into a habit of checking up on each other almost every day. Sometimes they didn't talk for two days, because both of them needed time alone, but talking to each other on the phone was kinda therapeutic. Stiles was just writing his essay for AP Biology when his phone rang.

 

“Hey Derek”, he happily answered.

 

“Hey”, a hoarse voice answered him and Stiles wondered why.

 

“Everything alright?”, he heard Derek clear his throat over the phone.

 

“Yeah, yeah, sorry, I was just sleeping”, what Stiles didn't know whas that Derek called because he had to make sure that this here was reality, that they had really escaped from their kidnappers. Hearing Stiles' voice finally calmed his racing mind down.

 

“Dude, it's 4pm”, Stiles laughed and Derek chuckled in response.

 

“Don't judge me!”

 

Stiles just laughed again.

 

“So, how have you been?”, Derek asked carefully. Stiles knew that Derek wouldn't accept 'fine' as an answer, because he knew that it wasn't true. But somehow after spending so much time together Stiles wasn't afraid of saying how he really felt, which was like a relief.

 

“Some days are good, some are bad”, he started, “still having nightmares, but I don't think that this is unusual after what happened to us.”

 

“No, it's not”, Derek just said and seemed lost in thought. Stiles noticed that.

 

“What about you? Are you sleeping alright?”

 

“Me? Oh yeah, I am fine.”

 

Stiles sighed. Even though he was now open to Derek and confessed how he was feeling, Derek still had a hard time trusting anybody. Some days he was talkative and told Stiles how he really felt, but these days were rare. Stiles couldn't help but feel hurt by Derek's inability to trust him.

 

“When are you gonna start trusting me?”, he said almost judgemental. Derek felt how hurt Stiles was over the phone and his stomach twisted. He didn't _want_ to lie to Stiles, but over these years he had built a wall around himself and was afraid that once somebody would break it down, he would be vulnerable. 

 

“I _do_ trust you!”, he tried defending himself.

 

“Okay”, Stiles just said, but it didn't sound genuine. It was quiet for a while and Derek could hear Stiles playing around with a pen.

 

“Well, I'll let you get back to work then”, Derek said and felt guilty for not opening up to Stiles.

 

“Alright”, Stiles tried to sound happier, “well have a good one and talk to you soon.”

 

“Okay, bye.”

 

“Bye.”

 

Derek ended the call and had to stop himself from crushing the phone in his hands. Why couldn't he let Stiles see how he really felt? Why couldn't he just tell him how scared he still was, even though both of them were safe for now? Why couldn't he just tell him how much he cared about him? He was so angry at himself but somehow couldn't tell Stiles the truth. Derek knew that Stiles was angry at him for not telling him, but he also knew that Stiles  _understood_ . And that hurt the most.

 

Derek tried spending that day doing everything but think. He cleaned the loft, went out for a long run, cooked dinner for the next week and put everything in the freezer. Then we went shopping for more groceries and stuffed the fridge until it was about to burst. By then it was almost 10pm and he fell into bed. His body was exhausted, but he already knew that he wouldn't sleep. He hated the night when everything was dark and quiet. During the day he could hear the birds or the cars passing his window. Sometimes he just focused on the people outside and listened to their talks. It helped him sleep. But at night when he was left alone with his own thoughts, he couldn't bring himself to relax. With an angry grunt he jumped up from his bed and moved over to the TV. He switched it on and switched through the channels to find something worth watching. He settled on listened to a documentary about bees, since the tone of that program seemed to be very calm. But sleep still wouldn't come. Not until he switched on the small light in the courner and the room was brighter. He rolled into the blanket of his sofa and closed his eyes. With the sounds of bees humming in the distance and some dude talking about honey his mind finally calmed down.

 

Stiles decided that staying indoor all day long wasn't the right strategy anymore. He was slowly starting to get bored and not even his movies could help occupy his mind. His heart raced at the thought of going outside though. The fear of being out in the world, of being vulnerable scared him. He had thought about it all morning and now it was 2pm and he was still sitting in bed. The others had called and told him that they found the druids. They had asked about his wellbeing as well and Stiles told them that it was all fine. It wasn't a complete lie, since this night he hadn't had a nightmare. He thought that since the other had made progress as well, he should continue his research. Everything was still in the loft so Stiles pulled himself together and got in the jeep. He drove to Derek and didn't even think of calling beforehand, because he was too anxious. Being outside felt scary and he was imagining seeing the men behind every corner. Stiles drove way too fast, but couldn't stop himself. When he finally arrived at the loft he let out a big breath.

 

“Well this wasn't so bad”, he mumbled to himself and shook his head. _Man I am so stupid_. He walked up the stairs, knocked once and then walked into the loft, because he figured that Derek must have sensed him already.

 

“Derek? Are you up for some research? I am _dying_ of boredom”, Stiles said but stopped after a few steps when he saw that Derek sitting on his bed with his head in his hands and quickly got up. When he walked up to Stiles he could tell that Derek had just been sleeping. He looked horrible.

 

“What happened to you?”, Stiles said with a small chuckle, but was clearly worried.

 

“What are you doing here?”, Derek asked him in return. He dragged his hands over his face. His eyes were red and his hair was sticking to all sides. He looked quite adorable if Stiles hadn't noticed the slight tremor in Derek's hands. Stiles quickly made his way over to Derek and took them in his hands without thinking. They were clammy and cold. Derek flinched at the contact but then relaxed instantaneously.

 

“Hey, you alright?”, Stiles' voice was soft. Derek refused to look at him, because he knew that if he did, he would crumble. His hands were still in Stiles' and it felt so _good_ , he never wanted that feeling to end.

 

“Yeah, no, I am good, I-”, he started and cleared his throat more than once, because he could feel the tears forming in his eyes. He stopped talking and took a deep breath. _Keep it together Derek!_ he told himself. Seeing the scars of Stiles' face from the kidnapping brought back so much fear and terror.

 

“Derek, I am sorry, I should have called, I didn't think, I am sorry”, Stiles was so understanding that Derek was about to cry, “but now I am here... Don't push me away... You help me and I help you. That's how this all works”, Stiles had a small smile on his lips. His mind was racing and he didn't know what to do.

 

They stayed like this for a while. Stiles was about to let go when Derek started talking.

 

“Sometimes I don't know what's real”, it was very quiet and Stiles nearly didn't catch it.

 

“Yeah, I know what you mean”, he answered softly and finally Derek looked him in the eyes. Tears fell down his face and he shakily took in a breath. Stiles couldn't watch any longer and pulled Derek into a fierce hug. He squeezed his arms around Derek and tried to tell him that it was alright, that he was here and that they were going to go through it together. Derek returned the hug and nearly broke Stiles' shoulderblades because he clinged onto him so tight. But Stiles didn't mind. He needed this hug as well. They didn't need to talk about the nightmares right now, because it wasn't necessary. Right now they just held onto each other and finally relaxed.

 

After that day Derek finally opened up to Stiles. It was like he needed that encounter, needed Stiles to see him, because otherwise he would have never had the courage to be that open in front of anybody. Stiles had stayed for the night and they just spend some time together. Sometimes Derek had said something and they had talked it out, but most of the time they both had distracted themselves with research.

 

Derek had always felt like he owed Stiles. He knew that Stiles didn't expect anything, but after all these years Derek wanted to do something nice for him. Stiles had always come back to Derek and had helped him through everything. He still remembered the time in the bunker when Stiles had been shocked to know that apparently Derek had cared for him the entire time. Derek didn't blame him though, he was quite bad at letting people know how much they meant to him. He had been thinking about getting Stiles away from all this trouble for a while now. First he wanted to bring the whole pack along, but after spending so much time with Stiles lately he realised, that he wanted to be alone with him. Everytime he thought of him there was a wide grin on his face and butterflies in his stomach. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. The entire night he was planning inside his head and thought about how he was going to ask Stiles over and over again. In the morning he woke up at 8am, he was way too excited to fall back asleep. He knew that Stiles always slept in but he just couldn't wait any longer and picked up the phone to call him. It rang a few times.

 

“Derek? Are you alright? Did anything happen?”, Stiles' panicked voice came through the phone.

 

“Oh, no I am alright, I just...couldn't wait to call you”, Derek felt like a little boy again, he was so nervous.

 

“Ugh, do you know what time it is?”, Stiles groaned and yawned. Derek chuckled.

 

“Sorry.”

 

He heard Stiles yawn again and the rustle of his bed sheets.

 

“So, what's up?”, Stiles asked tiredly.

 

“I...um...well...I don't know how to start.”

 

“Jesus, relax Derek, breathe”, Stiles laughed. Derek took a big breath and closed his eyes for a second to focus.

 

“Okay, well, so I can't stop thinking about the time we spent during all these years and...uhmm...you had always been there for me and...and...”, he stopped for a second.

 

“Well you have been there for me, too”, Stiles said quietly. He still didn't know where Derek was going with this.

 

“But I didn't really show it enough and I understand that now”, Derek talked very fast and paced around his room, “and...uhm...I wanted to do something for you...and well also for me and...uhm...what are you doing today?”

 

“Uhmm...nothing in particular? Why?”, Derek could hear how confused Stiles was. And he didn't blame him.

 

“I know some place nice near a lake and I was wondering if...if you might want to come...I mean with me. We could stay over the weekend? Just to get away from it all for a bit? I mean just if you want, so...”, Derek was so nervous and he was hot and then cold and anxiously waited for Stiles to answer.

 

“Yeah sure”, Stiles was still very confused but hearing that Derek wanted to stay with him made his heart flutter, “I would love to.”

 

“Oh, you would want to? Cool cool”, Derek laughed nervously and Stiles joined him.

 

“I'll pick you up in a few minutes, alright?”

 

“Can't wait”, Stiles smiled. He jumped out of bed and didn't care for a shower. He was just that excited. He knew that lately something had changed between them and now Derek asking _him_ to go with him was just amazing. He packed his swimming trunks, a few towels and a change of clothes. When he made himself a sandwich for breakfast he could already hear Derek's car in his driveway. Stiles quickly wrote a note to his dad and then sprinted to the door. He saw Derek shyly smiling and greeted him with a big smile.

 

They drove for about three hours and Stiles happily blabbered the whole time. After a few minutes Derek joined him and finally loosened up a bit. He still couldn't believe, that Stiles was here right now, it all felt like a dream. He was afraid of doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing or just straight up doing too much, but being with Stiles relaxed him. When they arrived the sight was beautiful. It was a small lake with a forrest surrounding it. Wild flowers were blooming everywhere and it felt closed off from this world. At the left there was a small wodden cabin, crumbled leafes were laying on the porch.

 

“I see you also have a romantic side”, Stiles smiled mischeviously and looked at Derek. Derek just looked down and smiled before exiting the car. They brought everything inside and Derek showed Stiles around. This cabin really _was_ romatic. They decided to enjoy the great weather and go out to the lake for a swim. While Stiles was changing in the only bedroom, Derek quickly swept the floor. He knew he was ridiculous, but he wanted to make a good impression. He heard a noise from upstairs and brought the broom back to the supply closet. And then Stiles was standing there in his trunks and Derek almost forgot to breathe. Now it was Stiles' turn to look down with a small smile. When he looked up his eyes glistered and he ran over to Derek.

 

“Tag! You're it!”

 

Derek just saw Stiles' back as he was already half way to the lake. He laughed loudly and got out of his clothes to run after Stiles. They splashed around like little kids and with every passing hour they forgot the bad things that had happened to them. They intentionally didn't bring their phones with them, but told the others where they were. Just in case. At one time Derek embraced Stiles from behind and spun him around. It was almost not noticable, but the subtle change of smell from happiness to pain coming from Stiles made Derek stop in his tracks. He took a few steps back.

 

“I am sorry, I didn't think, I forgot...”, Derek said and his stomach twisted and turned. Suddenly he was back in the bunker with Stiles laying in the cell next to him, softly whimpering in pain. He felt his heart speeding up. But Stiles was with him in an instant.

 

“Hey, don't”, he said and walked over to Derek to take his hands, “we are here and that's all that matters.”

 

Derek's gaze wandered up and he saw all the bruises which were purple and yellow by now. Some scars were still colored in an angry red and painted his whole body.

 

“I just hate how you will always have these marks on you...and I don't. They will always remind you of the bad times...”, Derek said quietly.

 

Stiles didn't know what to answer to that. There was nothing he could say, that would make it better.

 

“Well...then let's just make new memories so that the older ones fade away”, he smiled shyly at Derek.

 

Derek swallowed hard and then nodded. He squeezed Stiles' hands. Carefully Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles. Stiles happily returned the hug. He also hated the scars on his skin, but there was nothing he could do about it. Being with Derek though was like taking a breath for the first time. It felt right and he felt...at home. They spend the rest of the day just floating around in the lake and laying at the shore. Sometimes their feet would touch but none of them minded. They found a big pile of stones at one side of the lake and decided to jump off of it. Of course Derek was a pro in everything and did some impressive jumps. Then he had an idea.

 

“Do you trust me?”, he said to Stiles with a big smile.

 

“Of course”, Stiles said in a heartbeat and Derek's heart fluttered. He put his hands together and bended his knees a bit. Stiles understood and took a few steps back.

 

“Ready?”, Derek asked him. Stiles nodded and then sprinted towards Derek. He placed his right foot in Derek's hand and then suddenly he was thrown into the air. The adrenaline rush was out of this world, the wind was messing up his hair and he screamed out of joy. When he landed in the water thousand of bubbles surrounded him and he floated back to the surface. Derek waved at him from the shore and Stiles threw his hands into the air and cheered at him. It was such a great feeling to get away from it all and to finally not feel any fear or pain.

 

In the evening Derek cooked a small meal and Stiles made a cushion fort on the floor. Derek laughed at the sight of that and realised something. He loved Stiles. With every fiber of his being. He made him happy. He made him a better man. And Derek wanted Stiles to have everything he ever wanted. Stiles noticed Derek's glance and returned it with a warm smile. It left a fuzzy feeling in Derek's stomach.

 

When it was time to go to bed Derek told Stiles to take the bed, he would take the couch.

 

“Don't be silly!”, Stiles smiled and dragged Derek onto the bed with him. When Derek fell down next to him their hands touched and it felt natural for Derek to wrap his hand around Stiles'. Stiles looked down at their intertwined hands and then smiled.

 

“Is that okay?”, Derek whispered.

 

“More than okay”, Stiles said happily. He wiped his thumb over Derek's hand.

 

“Can we maybe switch on the TV? Just until we fall asleep?”, Derek asked Stiles quietly. By now he had told Stiles about everything.

 

“Sure”, Stiles smiled and got up to get the remote. He then jumped back into bed and took Derek's hand again. Derek smiled.

 

“Alright, so what do we have here?”, he switched through the channels, “we have a documentary about birds, the news...uhm... _Transformers 4_ , another news channel...You know what? Let's just stick to the documentary.”

 

Derek smiled knowingly again. Stiles settled closer into the cushions and got comfortable. From all this swimming and the sun Derek was exhausted and soon his eyes dropped close. Stiles noticed that Derek was about to fall asleep and turned the volume down a bit. After some time Derek was cuddled up against Stiles and he rested his head on Derek's. Stiles felt so happy, his heart was about to burst. He had a dopey grin on his face when he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

 

 


End file.
